Born on August 1, 1907, Erich Deibel is a metalworker. As a member of the Federation of Metalworkers he has close affiliations with the Social Democrats prior to 1933. Beginning in 1938, he works in the Buderus ironworks in Wetzlar as a metal cleaner. After the war begins in 1939, he regularly listens to Radio London’s German-language broadcasts. He talks to his coworkers about these broadcasts and writes slogans against the National Socialist dictatorship in his plant. During the night of July 21-22, 1941, four weeks after German and other Axis troops invade the Soviet Union, Erich Deibel writes the slogan ”Workers - Help Russia - Strike - Support the KPD” in chalk on a wall. That same day he is arrested; on June 6, 1942, he is sentenced to death by the ”People’s Court,” and on August 15, 1942, he is murdered in Plötzensee.

Josef and Veronika Augustyniak

Josef Augustyniak and his wife Veronika, née Nowak, are farmers in the Polish village of Borki in the county of Konin. In September 1941, the two of them help the Soviet prisoner of war Fyodor Azarov who has escaped from a German prison camp. They shelter him and give him food. In November 1941, a German police patrol acting on information from an informer arrests 26-year-old Azarov near the Augustyniaks’ farmyard. The police then take several Polish citizens into custody, among them Josef Augustyniak, who is arrested on November 25, 1941. His wife Veronika is only arrested on February 21, 1942. In March 1942, the senior Reich prosecutor of the ”People’s Court” brings criminal charges against the Augustyniaks. He accuses them of ”jointly . . . during the war against the Reich, aiding and abetting the enemy power and placing the armed might of the Reich at a disadvantage.” Josef and Veronika Augustyniak are sentenced to death by the ”People’s Court” on May 28, 1942. Roland Freisler, state secretary in the Reich Ministry of Justice, rejects appeals for clemency. The senior Reich prosecutor is requested to schedule the execution ”with all possible speed.” At dawn on August 15, 1942, Josef and Veronika Augustyniak are murdered in Plötzensee. They are survived by a nine-year-old daughter.